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By Kathy FinnREUTERS • Saturday January 19, 2013 7:27 AM

NEW ORLEANS — A federal grand jury yesterday charged Ray Nagin, the former New Orleans mayor who
denounced the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, with 21 counts of public
corruption including receiving thousands of dollars in kickbacks for city services.

The charges include six counts of bribery, nine counts of wire fraud, four counts of filing
false tax returns and one count each of conspiracy and money laundering.If convicted on all
charges, Nagin faces up to 48 years in prison and fines of more than $1 million.“Nagin used his
public office and his official capacity to provide favorable treatment that benefited the business
and financial interests of individuals providing him with bribery or kickback payoffs in the form
of checks, cash, granite inventory, wire transfers, personal services and free travel,” the
indictment said.

In one case, he received $72,500 in bribes, and $50,000 in another, according to the
indictment.Nagin and his sons, Jeremy Nagin and Jarin Nagin, owned a countertop company called
Stone Age LLC that provided granite for projects such as kitchen remodeling. In several instances,
Nagin received wire transfers and granite as bribes, the indictment said.

The charges followed months of investigation by federal prosecutors, who reached agreements with
several former associates of Nagin to provide evidence against him.

Nagin, 56, served as mayor from 2002-10 and stirred national controversy after the hurricane
broke local levees and inundated most of the city, killing 1,500 people and wrecking tens of
thousands of homes.

In the immediate aftermath of the storm, Nagin told federal officials to “get off your asses” as
thousands of people who had been forced from their homes waited for help.

Nagin’s attorney, Robert Jenkins, could not immediately be reached to comment on the
charges.

Jeremy and Jarin Nagin last fall appeared before a grand jury and provided documents in response
to a subpoena, their attorney Clarence Roby confirmed in October.

Roby said at the time that the two were not considered targets of an investigation, but
yesterday’s indictment refers to two of the persons who allegedly conspired with Nagin as “Family
Member 1” and “Family Member 2.”

Roby could not immediately be reached for comment yesterday.

The Nagin administration’s former chief technology officer, Gregory Meffert, pleaded guilty in
2010 to tax fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bribery in connection with a city program
that received federal funds.

Mark St. Pierre, who ran a technology company that received city contracts, is serving a 17-year
prison sentence for bribing Meffert and another city official.

The indictment alleges that another party identified as “Businessman A” bribed Nagin with “
private jet travel and limousine services to New York City, costing approximately $23,500,” in
return for Nagin agreeing to waive penalties owed by the man on a delinquent city tax bill.